On January 17^th and 18^th, SHINE team travelled to Gouda (the Netherlands) to the Kick-off meeting of YoungCare | Relief for Younger People in Need of Care and their Informal Carers project.  

This new Erasmus+ project is coordinated by ISISS (Germany) and had as partners, beside SHINE 2Europe, AFEdemy, Academy on age-friendly environments in Europe B.V. (the Netherlands), Vytautas Magnus University (Lithuania), CADIAI – Cooperativa Sociale (Italy) and Paritätische Projekte gemeinnützige Gesellschaft mbH (Germany).  

The idea of YoungCare arose because in the last years, it became apparent that services of the long-term care system do not effectively respond to the needs of dependent people between 18 and 65 years. For children and youth, as well as older people with care needs, specific services are available across Europe. But younger adults in need of care have special needs, different from other groups. Moreover, informal caregivers of younger adults have special needs and wants, and research, training and guidance for them are scarce.  

YoungCare will promote strategies for relieving the situation of informal caregivers and the younger people in need of their care. To successfully achieve this aim, the project will:  

• Give voice to the young dependent people and their caregivers and let them partake in measures that are designed to meet their wants and needs.  

• Develop a co-created learning tool on measures and possibilities to improve their quality of life.  
• Raise awareness of much-needed intervention measures at the political and associational levels.   

During the next years, the YoungCare consortium in collaboration with associate partners will develop outcomes to pursue these goals:  

1. A COMPENDIUM on the wants and needs of dependent young people, based on literature research and narrative interviews. We will collect facts and figures about the topic, and also illustrate gaps and impacts on their lives.  

2. A low-threshold and easy-to-access E-LEARNING OFFER, with playful elements and learning units co-produced with informal and professional caregivers and their younger adult dependents.  

3. SHARING AND PROMOTION activities to raise awareness of the gaps and needs of these groups, with RECOMMENDATIONS for policymakers and professional carers.  

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